Hybrid Hydrogels with Stimuli-Responsive Properties to Electric and Magnetic Fields

Abstract

Hydrogels are a promising type of soft material featuring great similarity to biological tissues due to their inherent characteristics, such as high-water content, flexibility, softness, or low elastic modulus. Imparting multifunctionality to hydrogels to be triggered by external stimuli is considered to have a high potential for innovative application in the biomedical field by regulatory agencies, such as FDA and EMA. Thus, functional hybrid systems based on the combination of nanomaterials and hydrogels are a new class of materials offering new opportunities for living organisms-machine interfacing for application in a wide variety of fields ranging from biomedical engineering to soft robotics, soft electronics, environmental or energy science. The objective of this chapter is to review the latest advances in multifunctional hybrid hydrogels with responsiveness to electric and magnetic fields and with applications in the biomedical field.

Stimuli-responsive dynamic hydrogels: design, properties and tissue engineering applications

“…247,248 Systems such as magnetically activated hydrogels could be advantageously applied in clinical settings because of the control and ability to focus the magnetic fields precisely, thus improving the expected outcomes. 249…”

A Review of Advanced Multifunctional Magnetic Nanostructures for Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy Integrated into an Artificial Intelligence Approach

“…Research on this topic has focused on the development of materials that are responsive to the desired stimuli and are capable of releasing the drug in response to the stimuli. Researchers have explored the use of polymeric materials, such as hydrogels and nanoparticles, as well as other materials, such as liposomes, for this purpose [ 205 , 206 ]. Ultrasound-sensitive drug delivery systems use materials that are sensitive to sound waves, such as microbubbles, to release drugs in response to changes in sound intensity.…”